


Trust

by RamdomReader



Series: Fatal loyalty [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Child Neglect, F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22085092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RamdomReader/pseuds/RamdomReader
Summary: Short piece. Focuses mainly around Anatole and Nysa’s friendship.
Relationships: Ilta/Nysa, Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Series: Fatal loyalty [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589671
Kudos: 3





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Mentioned child neglect and child abuse (nothing graphic), and mentioned torture. (One sentence says that it happened.)

Arrogance could be fatal. Anatole knew this well. No-one had ever considered him arrogant, in spite of his confidence. He was charismatic from a young age, and nothing fazed him. He was always sociable and had an ability to talk a lot and learn a lot about people without revealing much about himself, a fact which Nysa picked up on quickly. He doesn’t trust easily, but he is easy to trust and he knows how to take advantage of that. 

Nysa startles him. He’s not used to people picking up on what he does. He doesn’t mistrust her for long, but he takes a while to trust her. It is clear Ilta trusts her, and he knows Ilta doesn’t trust without a reason, but that doesn’t mean he trusts her. He is surprised when she and Temaru vanish for two and a half weeks and return with more injuries and a dangerous loyalty to each other. He knows Temaru doesn’t trust easily either, but he still doesn’t trust Nysa entirely. His trust of her is gradual, and he is startled when he realises that he does trust her, almost as much as he trusts his siblings. He mentions this to Ilta and she tells him, “Nysa’s like that. I don’t know when I started to trust her, but I do. She doesn’t trust easily either, which ironically is why we first started talking.” Temaru says something different, given their different circumstances, “I started to trust her when we got kidnapped and I realised she was putting my life above her own, in spite of her strong self-preservation instinct.”

Anatole realises when he is twenty-four and Nysa is twenty-six, that he trusts her as much as his siblings. He tells her this one autumn morning as they watch the sunrise together and she smiles at him and says, “Thank you. I return your trust, and I will defend you as your siblings do.” He realises in that moment that he wants Ilta and Nysa to stay together and that Nysa has truly become another sister to him.

Anatole is thirty when he realises he doesn’t experience sexual attraction. He comes out to his family and there is no judgement, because there is no judgement. Nysa, arm wrapped around Ilta, tells him, “Everyone is different. There’s nothing wrong with you, you’re just different in that way rather than a different one.” Temaru nods and adds, “No-one here’s going to judge you, we’re not total hypocrites.” He smiles at them for that statement and they smile back. 

He and Nysa become very close and spend a lot of time together. They watch the sunsets and sunrises together a lot, sometimes with the others, sometimes just them. They talk about all sorts of things, for he has seen more of the world than his siblings has and she knows it’s hardships intimately.

On a spring morning as they watch the sunset he tells Nysa about his parents. “They weren’t cruel,” he says, “But they weren’t kind either. I’m not sure why they had three kids, frankly, since they didn’t seem to want us. Temaru had it worst, our parents were not accepting of them, but we all struggled.” Nysa smiles softly at him, “Family can be complicated, I know you’ve seen some of my scars.”

“Yeah,” he says and then, “I’m here if you want to talk about it.”

“Thanks.”

About a year later she tells him about her family. “Ilta already knows, but Temaru doesn’t,” she says afterwards. “Are you going to tell them?” he asks.

“At some point.” 

They are all together when Nysa tells Temaru about her background. Her voice is calm and clinical even while she describes atrocious treatment at the hands of her relatives. She only hesitates when she gets to the two months she spent imprisoned and tortured, and then only briefly. She doesn’t go into detail about the torture, but it’s clear it was severe and affected her a lot. 

Nysa’s confidence impressed all of them. There was no arrogance in her, just the kind of confidence that comes when you’ve always survived worse and you know you could die any day but you also know you’ve survived until now.


End file.
